Holtgrewe Happenings: Hibiscus Half Marathon

10 years ago in Baumholder, Germany, Monica and I decided we should run a 1/2 marathon together someday. We ran in Germany for a while but between deployments, pregnancies, and life in general, we never ran one. Then we were separated at different duty stations for 3 years. As soon as we got to Hawaii we started looking for a race and found the Hibiscus 1/2 marathon! It was perfect timing... we had exactly enough weeks of training to get us to the race.

When we started training, neither one of us was in superb running shape... 2 miles was about my max. But we kept training hard (3 times a week) up until our 10k race in March. When we ran the 10k we realized there were some pretty hilly spots for the 1/2 marathon and added in hill work to our training routine (now running 4 days a week). We both had good weeks and bad weeks, injuries, and occasional mental walls we had to break through. But we stuck it out and pushed hard together.

The race was awesome! We started out great and the first 10 miles were pretty uneventful. I have to say - just to say that is pretty darn awesome. I'm not saying it wasn't tough but it was doable. Then came the hill at mile 11. The hill I thought would never end. It was just mean to put that hill there. hahahaha Our pace slowed but we never walked. We kept pushing. We got past the hill and saw the park where the finish line was, although we still had about a mile to go. That was the longest mile of my life and we pushed ourselves to finish.

Our official chip time was 2:31:03 and I am beyond proud of what we accomplished. We didn't leave anything on that course... we gave it our all! It was awesome to be able to finally run a half marathon with my best friend! Not to mention the ocean views during the race... Hawaii is DEFINITELY the place to run! :)